The Quack Shack

[rjohns39]

Good morning folks Good evening Wunda & Kiwi

 

[duluthralphie]

Yeah a -0.something seems acceptable. But -0 itself is a no.

I guess I should let you in on a secret. But you can’t tell any other Ozzies, ok?

We have a national tradition of doing little things that drive Ozzies nuts. It’s kinda passive aggressive but it sure is fun,



whoever put the - before the 0 might win the “bother a Ozzie” prize this month.

 

[Muscovy Wunda]

I guess I should let you in on a secret. But you can’t tell any other Ozzies, ok?

We have a national tradition of doing little things that drive Ozzies nuts. It’s kinda passive aggressive but it sure is fun,



whoever put the - before the 0 might win the “bother a Ozzie” prize this month.

No, nobody can beat the guys that decided on the unsimplified measurement for temperature there (100°c is boiling and 0°c is frozen. Simples) and making you drive on the right side of the road! Why?!? We won't go into the nightmare of calling a ute a truck. What do you call a truck truck?

 

[WannaBeHillBilly]

Ok here goes. I was living in Atlanta but traveling back and forth to Houston for business. Christmas was approaching and I must have tamales. Grabbed some frozen ones from my favorite tamale place and put them in my carry on. They were gathered together upright with a string tied around the top and bottom. I watched them go through the X-Ray. Holy poop, they looked exactly like a bundle of dynamite that Wile E Coyote would have had. All they missed was having ACME on the side. The screener didn't ask if it was my bag just called an officer who stood there with his hand on his gun butt and sternly said step away from the bag ma'am. The screener slowly opened the bag as I was backed against the wall, reached in and pulled them out. And yelled very loudly "Tamales". We all burst into laughter and wished a merry Christmas to all.

My Airport Security Story:

I love peanut-butter! Especially the crunchy variant!
That lead to a peanut-butter incident at the SFO airport:

The year was 1999, my current employer had just applied successfully to employ me and off i went to an HQ training in Redwood Shores, CA…
It was the good ol' time, when airlines treated their passengers like customers and security officers were addressing you as Ma'am and Sire…

At that time it was very difficult to obtain peanut-butter in Germany, especially the crunchy variant and when there was some in the shelves, it often tasted rancid.
So it was me in peanut-butter heaven and i took the opportunity and bought nine (9!) one pound jars of crunchy peanut-butter to take back home to Germany.
I neatly arranged the peanut-butter jars in a 3x3 block inside my suitcase, padded around with my clothing - at that time the peanut-butter jars were real jars, made out of glass and not plastic, so a lot of padding was necessary on a transatlantic-flight… Jeans, sweat-shirts, t-shirts and even my expensive silk ties were all being used to protect the precious cargo…
Unfortunately i was not only wearing expensive silk ties at this time, those were also neatly attached to a tie-rack similar to this one:
You see where this is going?

The tie rack looked like an antenna on top of a 3x3 package of explosives, surrounded by a lot of suspiciously looking objects… (belt buckles, metal zippers, pants buttons, cuff-links, tiepins, … i was very fashion-conscious at that time)
Anyways, i checked-in my suitcase two hours before departure, had a last yummy steak with fries and a shake, when suddenly i heard something that sounds like the futile attempt of an American to pronounce last name over the PA and did not pay any further attention.
Five minutes later i heart that same message again but i was still busy with my steak.
Again five minutes later the same message together with the words "very urgent" and "customer-service desk immediately".
The steak was digesting, it was one hour before departure and as i had nothing better to do i strolled to the customer service desk of the airline and asked them if that PA announcement was for me.

Well it was! - So said the six security giants who surrounded me out of nowhere, asking me politely but forcefully to follow them into a back-office. There i was showed an x-ray of my suitcase that, like in @Magnolia Ducks story, looked straight out of a Wiley Coyote cartoon. I started laughing like a mad man, tears running over my face, barely able to speak out the words "peanut butter" at which point the first security officers joined the laughter…

Of course, they had to verify that the peanut-butter was really peanut butter, so they had to open the suitcase and look at each and every one of the jars and i had to repack my luggage - hell! - Now it is 10 minutes before departure! How do i make it to my gate??

»Don't you worry, Sire! I already called the airline, they are holding the flight for you! Just hop on our cart and we will drive you quickly to the gate.«

So me and my baggage were transported to the waiting airplane over the tarmac, arriving at the plane like a true VIP. Also the airline gave me a courtesy upgrade to business-class as apology for »all the hassle with the security«.

That was two years before 9/11 happened. I wonder what would happen today under the same circumstances…

 

[WannaBeHillBilly]

Hi everyone
Work has been crazy, home has been crazier. Hope you’re all well!
I can’t believe how fast ducklings grow! These girls aren’t yet three weeks and the waterer is too small so we’ll be switching to a gallon bowl in the morning. Our overnight lows are in the upper 30s to low 40s and I’m not sure if they’re using the heat plate but they’re living outside so it’s still on. Here’s a few pics from today, have a great day/night!
View attachment 2449658View attachment 2449659View attachment 2449661

They have beautiful blue eyes!

 

[WannaBeHillBilly]

With as cold as it has been I’ve thought about it. I worry about them out there at night and it might freeze soon.

Don't worry about three week ducklings getting too cold! As long as they don't sit in a drag they are pretty much hard-core.

 

[WannaBeHillBilly]

Might freeze?

Look out the window, View attachment 2449815

These temps are F not C.

Question: Is -0 + 0 still 0?

 

[WannaBeHillBilly]

Been there, done that. No thank you! I’ve been in the southwest far too long, I couldn’t handle that. I’d die.

Bah! That is just -17.7°C - I have experienced -45°C in 2009 in Canada, that's -49F! I had to plug in the car into an electric outlet at the hotel-parking-lot overnight. And water was screaming when thrown into the air.

 

[WannaBeHillBilly]

Fawn and white Indian Runners.

Peep, peep, peep! Quax!?

Are they already quaxing?

 

[WannaBeHillBilly]

It must be -0.06. So they rounded up to zero.

I have no idea why the - was there. Kelvin scale is the one that has nothing negative. It starts at absolute zero

I agree! We should all switch to the Kelvin scale, where water thaws at 273.15K, boils at 373.15K and 293K is a nice temperature for your living room.